For the benefit of my foreign friends, here is my translation of the interview into English.

Are the Seven Hathors depicted throughout pharaonic history?

Depictions of the Hathors occur mainly from the Late Period onwards, and mostly in Graeco-Roman temples. But the Hathors already existed in the New Kingdom. Sporadically in depictions, but mainly in text, most importantly in two fairy tales: the tale of the ‘Doomed Prince’ and the tale of the ‘Two Brothers’. There the Hathors appear at a birth, like the fairies in The Sleeping Beauty, to foretell the fate of the newly born child. In the New Kingdom these tales were written on papyri that have survived for us. It is not known how long the stories had been told before that.

In the Old Kingdom there was an earlier tale of a prediction at the birth of three future kings, in the Westcar papyrus. This prediction is made by a group of other goddesses who come to help with the birth, disguised as musicians.

Apparently the idea of the Seven Hathors as divine determiners of fate was very popular and spread throughout Egypt. A possible reason for that is that people can sometimes be struck by an act of fate that seems very unjust (like infant mortality). Belief in predestination can then serve as an explanation in which one may find some solace.

What are the Seven Hathors? Why seven?

It is unclear how this group of goddesses came into being. They probably originated in the fairy tales I mentioned. The number seven has been a magic number throughout history, also in ancient Egypt. Repeating an utterance or action seven times gives it extra potency, and thus a sevenfold of goddesses will be extra powerful. The goddess Hathor is associated with love, sexuality, motherhood and all things feminine, but it is not clear why this group of seven, which operates as an entity completely separate from Hathor, should carry her name.

It is possible that the story in the Westcar papyrus says something about labour and childbirth in daily life, but not much is known about that. It is quite likely that a group of women would visit at a birth, to help with the labour and make music and bring good wishes.

Was this predestination inevitable? Could one intervene and change it?

Predestination was clearly a popular motif, which also appeared in royal birth legends, as depicted e.g. in the temple of Hatshepsut, in which the god Amun impregnates the queen-mother with a child which is predestined for kingship. This motif later reappears in birth houses (mammisis) of temples, in which the divine child of the temple’s triad of gods is ritually engendered and born.

The practical ancient Egyptians found many means in religion and magic with which to influence their fate as much as possible. The ma’at principle started with the premise that exemplary behaviour is rewarded by the gods. Furthermore, the favour of the gods could be influenced through offerings and prayers, and if all else failed through the use of magic. Through a magic spell a deity could be convinced to assist the speaker, sometimes by the power of the magician’s secret knowledge, sometimes even by threats. And with that apparently even a predestined unhappy fate could be averted.

This idea is proved by the existence of many magico-medical spells in which the gods, among whom the Seven Hathors, are invoked, sometimes even threatened, to be benificent towards the speaker.

And this has led me to the conclusion that the tale of the ‘Doomed Prince’ – the end of which is unfortunately lost – did have a positive ending (‘and they lived happily ever after’). The prince, who was brave and pious, and who had all good characteristics needed to become an exemplary king, had an excellent chance of being saved from his doom by a kindly disposed god.

Are there hymns, prayers and utterances specific to the Seven Hathors?

There is quite a number of prayers and utterances addressing the Seven Hathors, in order to influence the fate of the speaker. I have described a number of these on my blog.

In the southern crypt of the temple of Dendera there is a hymn belonging with a scene in which the Seven Hathors play their tambourines. In the hymn the Hathors sing to the majesty of Hathor, the goddess of Dendera.

Was there an interaction between private and official religion in the case of the Seven Hathors?

In all periods of Egyptian history existing ideas were adapted, elaborated and reused in new contexts. From the Late Period onwards the mythology of temples is expanded ever further. For instance, in several places local saints are incorporated into the official pantheon of temples, like Imhotep and Amenhotep son of Hapu, who were both venerated because of their healing powers.

The Hathors probably originated in fairy tales. The idea was so popular that it spread throughout the country and was used in magic spells and also on an offering stela. During the Late Period the Hathors occur on a few monuments placed within temple precincts by high officials. It is in the reign of Darius that the Hathors first occur inside a temple: the Hibis temple in the Kharga oasis. From the Graeco-Roman period they begin to play a role in the birth mythologies of the temples, in which the god and goddess of a temple engender a child. The birth of this child was ritually celebrated every year. Through this the eternal existence of the temple was guaranteed, as well as the eternal existence of Egyptian kingship and the eternal existence of the annual cycle of the Nile flood and the harvest season.

This annual birth of the divine child was closely connected with kingship. The pharaoh was symbolically linked to the newly born god. And his future on the throne was predestined by the Seven Hathors. On temple walls the Hathors are shown suckling the young god, and sometimes the king, with their milk which bestows upon him all the good characteristics of an exemplary ruler, or beating their tambourines to welcome him into the world and wish him well.

How are the Seven Hathors depicted. Always as ladies?

The Hathors are always depicted as ladies – usually in the traditional attire of Hathor, wearing a crown of cow horns surrounding a sun disk. They are often depicted with tambourines, or suckling a child.

During the 19th century some Egyptologists came up with the notion that the Seven Hathors could also be associated with the seven cows and their bull, which are mentioned in the Book of the Dead (spells 141 and 148) and which are often depicted in tombs, as in the famous tomb of queen Nefertari. The logic behind the idea is that Hathor could also be depicted in the shape of a cow. This idea has been repeated and copied often in Egyptology. However, I haven’t been able to find a single shred of evidence in ancient Egyptian sources for an association between these cows and the Seven Hathors.

One expects the Seven Hathors in Dendera and in birth houses (mammisis). In Philae they are depicted on the pylon at the entrance to the birth house. But why are they depicted at the Wabet in the Horus temple of Edfu?

The Hathors are strongly associated with the birth of the divine child of a temple. This is why they occur most often in mammisis. But this annual rebirth is also associated with the eternal cycles of kingship and of the Nile inundation. The Wabet (sun court) was used in various temple festivals associated with these annual renewal cycles. There too the Seven Hathors apparently played their tambourines, both in Edfu and in Dendera, to offer their good wishes.

May I also ask why the Seven Hathors are depicted in this chapel in Karnak?

The Osiris-Wep-Ished chapel in the north east of the Karnak temple complex is (according to an article by Redford) the ‘temple of Isis of the Great Mound’. This private chapel was commissioned by Hori, an Amun priest at the time of Osorkon II (22nd dynasty) and Takelot II and Pedubast I (23rd dynasty). The chapel lay along a procession route where Amun apparently passed on the first day of the Shemu-season. The building is associated with Osiris, Atum and Ra, but there is too little information to clarify the exact function of the Hathors in this context. Presumably here too they are playing their tambourines at a ritual of annual renewal/rejuvenation.

What literature about the Seven Hathors and their functions can you recommend?

who has made an inventory of various groups of seven, among which the Hathors. I have used most of his sources in my catalogue and have added a number of new sources. I plan to publish an article about my findings on the subject.